Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

By Henny Ray Abrams Photos by Lou Martin & Abrams In addition to being one of the premier road racers in the world, Freddie Spencer is a nice guy. He doesn't indulge in any vices, unless you call Dr. Pepper a vice. He doesn't smoke, he ' doesn't drink, he doesn 't swear. He's the son every mother wants. He is so amazingly polite as to be anachronistic. His courtesy and good manners remind you not of the jetstream lifestyle of the 80's, but of a more civilized time in the past. There's something of a duality in it, though. He'll stare in disbelief as someone butts in line ahead of him at an airport, but try to get in front of him at a race track and he'll dispatch you with the ruthless efficiency of an executioner. A nd thank you for a good race afterwards. When he races, his eyes, like the throttle, are wide open due to the . contact lenses that he wears. He's an athlete and enjoys tennis (he played on his high school team and has won a few tournaments), basketball (he played in two Louisiana state championship games, but his team lost), and has a [et-Ski at the lake near his home in Shreveport, Louisiana. Although he's ridden at over 175 "!-ph at Daytona he's never been on a street bike, having learned his. trade on the dirt tracks. He has earned the respect of every knowledgeable race watcher with his performance this year. On a brand new bike, admittedly down on power, on unfamiliar tracks, he has distingu ished himself. There have been six GP's. In three he has been stopped by mechanical problems, two of which were the frustrating kind. In Spain a coil wire came loose and in Holland a bit holdin the steerin dam er broke. In Austria a tired engine expired while he was running up front. In Argentina and Italy he finished second and in Belgium he won. fie now lies fourth ' in the point standings on tke basis olonly three finishes. We talked to Freddie the night before he won his first Gran Prix at Spa-Froncorchamps in Belgium and in. doing so he became the youngest GPwinnereverat20. He was gracious enough to invite us into the motorhome that he lives in at the races for some talk, good laughs, Dr. Pepper, and Doritos. We watched a replay of the Daytona 200 on his video recorder and he was especially proud of the pit stop that the Honda creuiexecuted on his final gas stop. . "Watch this!" he said, " T hree and a half seconds for a gas fill-up." We laughed through his abbreviated interview with Ted Otto on pit lane while he was having a tire changed. Otto asked him a long question, stuck the microphone in his face just long enough to get a barely discernible response, then grabbed it away for his own summary. It didn't affect Freddie. He went out and finished second after two tire changes and a pit stop and still set a record lap late in the race while closing on winner Graeme Crosby. Daytona is, by far, his favorite race track and a place he'd like to see Grand Prix held someday. Tough ' to figure after the guy goes out and wins the Superbike race and takes a charging second in the 200. In fact, Freddie has probably led as many laps as just about anyone in the past few years, but mechanical problems have robbed him of a 200 win. He's been racing at Daytona since 1974 when he won the 125cc Amateur race, repeatin it a ear later. In -1978 he hooked up with -Eru Kanemoto and last year was the only year they were apart . Kanemoto spent the year tuning Barry Sheene's works Yamahas while Freddie was back in the States winning on the Hondas. They're back together again and it has been a synergistic experience. After Freddie's win at Spa, Erv accepted congratulations from all while unsuccessfully fighting' back tears. When we last saw him, Freddie was about to board a plane home after an airport ordeal that even he hadn't expected. After checking in at Brussels' notoriously inefficient Zaventem airport, Freddie stood in the line waiting to pass through border control. It was there that he realized that he'd forgotten. his passport. "I know where it is. I left it in my motorhome," he said. But also missing was the number 'of the Honda race shop in Aalst, about half an hour from the airport. And it wasn't listed in the phone book. So to get the number he called his brother in Shreveport at 10:00 in the morning. Only thing was, that translates to 4:00 a.m. on the East Coast. He got his brother up, but .could only get the number of the race shop in Japan ; Quickcalls to Andre Malherbe (he wasn't home), then Danny LaPorte got him the number. He called Erv who went for the motorhome while Freddie went upstairs to change flights. Ten minutes later, Ervcalled to say that he'd found it and it was on the way. Freddie had re-routedthrough N ew York to Shreveport and would land only half an hour later than on his other flight. He hung up, popped out of the bubble at the pay phone and said, " I hate . 'trauelin ." . What's been the hardest to get used to? The traveling between races, the language barrier, money and food. Food -has not really been a problem, except in France where everything is . . . you ask for a green salad and you get some kind of special chef delight that's got everything but green lettuce in it . It 's got purple salmon, and I don't even like salmon, especially raw. Who do you travel with? Up until now I had a gentleman here for six weeks , Mr. Williams from Shreveport. Then Stuart Rowland (Honda public relations rep) was here last week and this has been the only week that i haven't had somebody. My parents will be over for Silverstone (August I). Did you ever stop to think that you'll be spending the better part of the next five years of your life doing this? I've thought about it and I've thought, 'What a deal!' But I've thought about it. If I have to spend the better part of the next five years that'd be worth it for all of the time that I've put into it. At least five more years for sure. I was asked if I ever had any intention to go back to the States to go racing, but no. Not for a season. I plan on racing here and I would like to win a Warld Championship or more. More than one if possible. And if it would happen then maybe I'd get into something else other than motorcycles, but I'm sure that it would be over here. I never set out to make a living from racing. It's just been in the last year or so that I thought about it. I think I signed with Honda .a t· the right time. They wanted me to sign sooner. And I think this was the right year to come-to Europe. Have you triedcar racing at all? No I haven't. I raced go-carts when I was younger. So did my brother and my dad. · How did you do? · I won them, (LaughsjNo, actually I did win a couple of races. But I admit they were not exactly what you would · call big time go-cart races. What riders have been the most help over here? Whenever I talk to other riders I really haven't talked about racing. It's up to you to go out and learn the tracks? Definitely. Not that I don't feel it's not needed. I just like to learn the circuit and Erv and I talk about the changes that we feel are necessary to the bike and anything that we feel would help; transmission or tires. But as far as learning the race track, that's up to me. Here (Spa) I felt com- . fortable after two or three laps. How important is Erv's help? Erv is more than a mechanic to me. He helps me out with so many things that people don't even think about. Erv has been a big help. He's been here a year and he knows things beforehand that have to be done that I don 't know about. It makes it a lot easier from the traveling standpoint and just his having been at the Grand Prix before. But as far as any bike changes, it's up to me. How hard was the Honda NS500 to get used to? Not hard, it's an easy bike to ride, . which all of them are, basically. I think your top guys adapt pretty easily . On this bike the powerband's narrow and that's a problem we're having because they're trying to get more power on the top and it takes away from the bottom. Or vice versa. And that's just a problem with a three-cylinder engine. It's reed valved. Rotary valved engines have a wider powerband. So it handles good, but it's not that easy to ride it in the wet . You can't have a bike that comes on harder that has a narrow powerband because in that case you have to ride it tinder the owerband. 1

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